It's not about me

Here’s a question - why was I so surprised to find a quality hotel in Uganda?

I’ve been mulling this over during our postponed game drive this morning, and our journey to Soroti. The Safari Lodge was probably the cleanest hotel I have ever stayed in anywhere, including the ‘public’ toilets!  The staff were definitely the most helpful and friendly – they couldn’t do enough for us, and sorted our trips and gave us advice with good grace and lots of smiles. They treated Charles exactly the same as us. The catering staff were the most accommodating and flexible we’ve come across in a hotel, in relation to Tom’s awkward diet.

It just wasn’t what I was expecting. We’re now installed in our guest house in Soroti with a trickle for a shower, a cramped room with no bedside tables or any drawers, electric wires hanging off the wall – but its clean, the water is hot, we’ve had a good meal, the bed is comfy, and there’s free wifi. And guess what? The people are friendly and helpful.

So maybe I have some sort of prejudice – an expectation of poor quality and an inability to provide what foreigners expect. How wrong. They do it much better here than the place we stayed for 2 nights in Tenerife.  We may have had problems last year – but when we were prepared to pay what we’d pay in the UK we got something far, far better.

But the main factor is the people.

I think I need to go back to where we started in Rukungiri. As we visit people here and spend time with the disabled children in the Ark, I need to consciously treat them with dignity, humility and respect each and every adult and child.  No preconceptions, no poor expectations, no patronising attitude, no self-righteousness or superiority. It’s not about me.

Yesterday I read this in my daily devotional notes: ‘There is the hidden face of God in the faces of widows, orphans, strangers, aliens, prisoners, refugees, immigrants, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and the naked of the world around us (Matt 25:31-46)’. The author went on to suggest that these vulnerable groups are so special to God, they have almost divine preferential treatment. The most challenging idea was the proposition that caring for the marginalised is not only a true expression of faith, but likely to be the greatest factor taken into account on the day of judgement. I have a lot to learn about caring for the most vulnerable in society here and at home. It starts with dignity and respect, moves to listening to, not deciding what’s best for someone, and definitely goes as far as sacrificial service. 

The people in the hotel went above and beyond to make us comfortable and relaxed. Do I do the same for everyone I meet, whatever their circumstances?

And for my friends who love them, a picture of giraffes from this morning!

Falls Trek Voyages

Captain’s log, trip date 2^nd October 2016.

After completing formalities in triplicate, we boldly went in the Kichumbanyobo Gate, and drove the red path of the rainforest.  All we could see for nearly an hour was dense forest with local baboon lifeforms, who greeted us by showing their red bottoms. Delayed at the start of our journey, we failed to catch the planned transporter across the Nile, and waited 2 hours at Chilli Rest Camp for the next one.  Eventually the cumbersome, flat yellow ferry made slow progress across the fast flowing river, avoiding schools of hippos guarding their young by the bank. No-one said “She’ll no’ make it captain!”

We arrived at our destination, the planet of Paraa Safari Lodge. 

This is unlike anything we have previously encountered. Rich white people stay in beautiful, smart rooms, with every required amenity. Ladies wear short shorts and tight jeans – something we only encountered in Kampala before.  The temperature on arrival was almost unbearably hot, but there was a swimming pool where we could cool down.

There is too much food! We were instructed to take lunch before going to our rooms. Lunch was nearly over, but there was still a plentiful buffet of Ugandan, Asian and Western food. Charles sleeps with other drivers but eats with us. He is not allowed to walk between his room and the restaurant as there are more lifeforms roaming near his lodgings. We have taught him a new word, ‘Warthog’.

After resting, a local guide took us on a nature walk. We examined the excrement of many native animals. We saw adult and baby hippos swimming in the river, a crocodile catching fish, water buck, and a huge variety of birds.  This planet is inhabited by species that are new to us.  Our guide was well equipped for the trip, carrying a stick, Kalashnikov, and mobile phone.  Bob the Mouse stayed safely in his transport (my bag), he was therefore not at risk of being the expendable member of the crew. The guide communicated with central command by frequent texts and calls, we were confident that if danger occurred we could be safely transported back to the starship Paraa.  

 

In the evening we had a 3 course meal to the accompaniment of a local band and dancers.  This is a truly beautiful place. The people are very friendly and always helpful. It is very clean, and the food is excellent. The chef is incredibly helpful with the peculiar diet of Dr. Tom. Altogether a pretty good new civilisation. Bob the Mouse had a near miss at breakfast when he fell under the table and was left behind. Charles is beginning to accept this alien lifeform, and rescued him at the last moment to bring him back to the safety of our room.

Last night it rained very heavily, and we were unable to make a scheduled trip to observe more of the land and wildlife. This afternoon we took a boat trip in the company of tetchy Swiss twitchers, despite the shortage of dilithium crystals, the expeditionary force then hiked to the top of Murchison Falls.  On arrival at the top of the falls, Charles had successfully navigated the park to find us, and beamed us back to the hotel (though being transported took 1½ hours). As well as spectacular scenery, we saw many interesting native species, including two giraffes.

Tomorrow we travel to Soroti.

We are looking forward to seeing our Soroti friends, but we cannot underestimate the privilege of this time to rest and reflect. 

This is an oasis of plenty in a land of much poverty. Here we contribute to the tourist industry, but we sit relaxing on our paved patio, outside our solid room with a clean, fresh bed with mosquito net, knowing we can eat as much as we want 3 times a day, cooked and served by lodge staff. 

Outside this world, we met people struggling to survive, sleeping on the floor, sloshing in mud, not knowing if there is a next meal, unable to pay for their children’s education.

Our challenge is - what we do next?

How do we live our faith, and care for the vulnerable and marginalised? 

How do we demonstrate our concern for justice and righteousness, and contribute to the relief of suffering?

Hit the Road Jack

We left the hotel at 7.30am – after confusion about the time, we were ready at 7am!

We had an extra passenger, the hotel manager (Jerome) asked us last night if he could ‘hike a lift to Kampala’, as his daughter was in hospital.

Yesterday at this time we were walking back to our room up the steep rutted track from the Global Care office, smiling at children coming out of school, and buying a delicious avocado for about 8p from a local shop. Then we had a cold shower because there was no power again, enjoyed the glorious view of mountains and trees, sipping tea listening to the birds.

I am currently in a hotel in Kampala, listening to totally different noises. There are calls to Friday prayers, people chatting, horns blaring, sounds of stairs being washed, loud music from the bar opposite, and I suppose I should add the hum of the fridge. Yes folks, we are back in town. I think this is the first Ugandan hotel I’ve stayed in that had working hot and cold taps, and all the plug sockets are fixed to the wall. Not a wire in sight. Even more amazing, no wires in the bathroom, and a light over the mirror…

We travelled for over 7 hours today, our longest stop being to change a tyre. We’d just left a small town where we’d stopped for fuel, a ‘short call’, and for Charles and I to finish off my breakfast chapattis, when there was a loud bang under Tom’s seat. It is impressive to watch Charles change a tyre – the jack wasn’t high enough so there was a bit of searching for rocks in the swamp, leaving me guarding the car and luggage. Tom says I’m formidable – ha ha ha – when the local children saw me in my sunhat they all burst out laughing.  Tom was very excited because his rock was better than Jerome’s. The joys of travelling with 3 blokes.

It is fascinating making a long journey like this. You leave mountainous terrain with small, ramshackle, thatched huts spaced out wherever there is flat, cleared ground. After an hour of a bumpy pot-holed road with endless speedbumps, you arrive at the main road. You pass through bustling villages and largish towns, with bodas weaving in and out of the lorries thundering between Kampala and Rwanda. Buses dangerously overtake bicycles, motorbikes, cars and pedestrians, then get stopped by the police at every checkpoint. I sat in the front today and found myself wincing frequently, or trying to breathe in when someone was coming towards us on the same side of the road. We passed vast areas of swamp, a game park with zebra close to the road, sugar plantations, coffee farms, piggeries. In some areas the hillsides dotted with cows remind me of home.

But everywhere there are people walking barefoot at the side of the road, carrying ridiculously heavy packages.  

There are stalls selling a few tomatoes or pineapples. People working in the fields. There are shanty towns and remote villages – no running water, no electricity.

We were ready for this weekend to re-charge our emotional batteries.  But while we are resting in a comfortable, clean hotel with a well stocked restaurant, I keep seeing those three sets of twins . 

I can feel the mud squelching underfoot, see the sad eyes of the ragged toddlers, but maybe next year they’ll manage if their sister takes them with her when she goes to school, and they can join the feeding programme at Kahororo. 

Then I think of the twins at school, and their father who was so grateful and truly believed that because of Global Care his children are alive.  

And the progression ends with the twins at the carpentry shop – gaining new skills and hoping for self-sufficiency. 


I am truly thankful that I came here in 2008 and had my life turned around by this amazing charity.

Vocation, Vocation, Vocation

What do you do if you’re a poor performer at school, and your family is extremely poor?

Explanatory Note: last year of primary school is P7. Senior classes are S1-4 then you go elsewhere for A’ levels or college.

*Lizzie lives in a poor family home.  Her father died of HIV.  Her mother, sister *Mary, and one of her brothers, are also HIV+.  Lizzie was sponsored by Global Care, but struggled with schooling. When she reached S3, teachers realised she was unlikely to pass her S4 exams without extra support, which her family could not provide. 

Lizzie realised her best option was a vocational training scheme. She spent 6 months training in hairdressing and ‘salon’, a course paid for by GC, then started her own business, paying meagre rent for a room, and dividing it with a curtain so she can sleep at the salon.  GC bought her a start-up kit - mirrors, hairdryer, hair clippers and products. Lizzie’s salon is successful. Located on a busy main road into town, she is making money.  Now she is being paid to train her sister Mary, who also has mental health problems, and couldn’t continue at school.

17-year-old twins *Robert and *Edwin come from an extremely poor family. Their father has mental health problems and at times has been abusive towards the family. The twins are the eldest of 5 children. They moved into S3, but after one term the school dropped them, as their performance was so poor.  

GC supports them on a 1-year carpentry course which includes their training and lunch. In training for 5 months, they are now able to contribute to the business, and receive a small salary, which can go to their family. Today they were making doors…

*Anna lives with her grandmother in a 2-roomed house in a rural village at the top of a hill. Their roof was thatched with banana leaves, but GC replaced it with tin.  When she sat P7 exams, Anna did badly, and because of her home environment, secondary school was not an option.  At 14 years old, she joined a tailoring programme, GC paying for her training and a midday meal.

It takes Anna 2 hours twice a day to walk to and from work. She has to help her grandmother, who is sick and very old, and can’t walk down the narrow, steep, mud path to the road, or back up the hill. *Anna has to shop, and fetch water, although their neighbouring relatives sometimes help. The owner of the business says she will employ Anna if she does well, and GC will buy her a sewing machine.

Today has been a good day. A day of encouragement and optimism. These families live in unimagineable conditions, but they have hope that someone in the family can work, and provide a regular income. The family will eat better meals, and younger children can be supported by their working brothers and sisters. 

Visiting in the rainy season has opened our eyes to some of the added challenges of living in a rural location.  Everything turns to mud, and it’s too wet to walk because the rain comes down in sheets.  It is an incredibly beautiful area, a bit ‘Yorkshire Dales on steroids’! But hidden in the awesome scenery are shacks and hovels, pain and sickness, struggle for survival, and tiny gardens that provide the only food or income for whole families.

As we leave Rukungiri, I am humbled and challenged by the amazing work of the team here.  They travel massive distances on rough tracks, but above any inconvenience, they care for the poor and vulnerable. I am in awe of how they find ways to support families and lift them from destitution.  It has been a huge privilege to meet people who say that Global Care has saved their lives, or their children’s lives.

Tomorrow we travel back to Kampala, and then on to Murchison Falls for a weekend off.  Somehow I think we’ll be talking about our experiences here as much as animal spotting!


* not their real names

Life at the End of the Road

Today I am overwhelmed. I thought I was immune to tears after all these years. I’m not.

This morning we visited 3 homes and a school, this afternoon we met with representatives from RAPID (Rukungiri District Association of People with Disabilities (PWD)). We saw terrible living conditions, and also the difference Global Care can make to people’s home environment. We encountered sad situations, and ones where Global Care makes a radical difference.  We met a toddler with malnutrition – as I write I’m shocked again by that sticking out stomach. You pray the feeding programme they’ve joined is not too late.

And then you are reminded of all the challenges faced by PWD, who even have to pay for crutches or any other walking aid.  I have enough material for a month of blogs.

I’m going to tell you about Kahororo, an area deep in the countryside about 8km from Rukungiri town.  When you turn off the main road to head for the village, it becomes like a farm track, we often walked the last section.  The area is very hilly, but cultivated.  It is beautiful, lush green fields, distant high mountain ranges, plentiful trees of a host of varieties, including some with flame red flowers, flashing in the sun amongst the greens and browns.

Kahororo school is a government nursery and primary school.  We went outside with the nursery children.

Cute, smiling faces, little hands reaching out to hold ours. Global Care has a feeding programme at the school. 45 nursery children receive a meal of milk porridge and a ‘bun’, and once a week, an egg.  GC supports the most vulnerable children from extremely poor families.  On some days, this is the only meal these little children eat.

Not only had most of them not seen a white person, many had never seen a ball! Our gift of a bright orange football caused almost the entire class to run shrieking and laughing around the field. It was an excellent positive visit.

GC also sponsors children at the school, including *Miriam. Miriam lives with her 5 siblings, (including 4 year-old-twins), her mentally ill mother, and her father, who has an alcohol problem. The father earns a meagre amount doing casual work, but only works when he’s sober. He doesn’t earn enough to feed the whole family every day.

 The family live in a onr-roomed house, with a lean-to kitchen, both with banana leaf roofs. When GC first visited, they each only had one set of clothes. It was difficult to get to the house because the children used the path leading up to their house as a toilet. Water is fetched from a dirty swamp.

They were given clothes and welfare support, and the twins were enrolled on the feeding programme at the school. However, the school is 2km away and their mother couldn’t get them there.

The local GC team decided instead to sponsor Miriam. She can walk to school. They built a toilet (latrine) in the garden.

We visited the home, and met the twins, their mother and their grandmother.

Their grandmother was grinding millet for flour using 2 stones – hard work. She made porridge for the children so they had something to eat. The simple house was accessible, as the path is now clean and tidy. The twins sleep in one room with their brothers and sisters. GC gave the twins bedsheets to sleep on, but today the twins had wet the bed and they hadn’t been washed.  

Moses decided they should try and buy a mattress for the twins.

The twins were in torn ragged clothes, their little bare feet covered in dried mud, their eyes dull and unresponsive. Unlike the children at the school, these were not lively, happy children. They stayed close together, hardly even relating to their mother. It was difficult to look at them without our hearts being torn. 

We were quiet in the car, sad, frustrated and angry- but if the local team are trying to shock me into coming home and banging on about Global Care, they’re doing a good job.

If the twins’ story has made you wince, look at the Global Care Harvest Appeal. Or remember our 1^st day, 158 children sponsored, and 2 files of waiting list.  We visited a home where a family waited 5 years for a sponsor – a grandmother and 3-year-old boy living all that time in a one-roomed rented house after his parents died of HIV. I’m not sure what our response will be to this trip – but I can tell you with confidence, sponsorship here saves lives.



*Not her real name

The Seven Thoughts of Barb

My brain is fried and my body weary – not that we’ve done anything strenuous.  My head is overloaded, stories and experiences clogging my thought processes like boda boys creating a bottleneck at a junction.  (Boda = motorbike taxi).

So today the blog is therapeutic for me (sorry!), organising my thoughts. It may be my 6^th visit to Uganda, but my goodness there is still much to learn.

1.       Depression is a major result of poverty.

      Depression results from the stresses of survival and loss of status for people in abject poverty.  Massive stigma causes isolation and poor performance at school. Drug and alcohol addiction are as much caused by poverty as causes of poverty – and there are no support services to help you if you want to break your addiction.

2.       Identifying the most vulnerable is not straightforward.

      Today we visited a girl because she hadn’t registered at school. Her mother died, her father is an alcoholic, and she lives with her grandfather.  They are not in the most extreme poverty, but she is extremely vulnerable.  This young child does all the household work, because grandfather is old. She fetches water, cooks, does washing and cleaning. He keeps her at home to work. Today his excuse was that her uniform was dirty, and hadn’t dried because of the rain. Her sponsorship pays for her to eat a meal with the teachers (the only child fed at her school).

      Her grandfather complained, saying it was unfair that he had to pay for his own food.

3.       Guardians are unpredictable

I’ve met guardians not related to an abandoned child, who provide a home  and good care. I’ve met others who discriminate against a niece or nephew because they are not their own child. Some guardians do extra work so their children can go to a good school.  Others apply for Global Care support, but at a home visit, are found living in a permanent brick home, with a large piece of land! I’ve met guardians caught in the poverty trap, yet making incredible sacrifices for their children, understanding the value of education and prioritising their children’s needs

4.       Nutrition is critical

Children living in poverty are likely to have poor nutrition – malnutrition leads to stunting, intellectual impairment, and ultimately death. We heard of a girl with HIV at boarding school, whose health deteriorated due to poor diet.  When she became a day student, Global Care provided food supplements. This girl has today’s quote “I’m tired of these drugs. When will it stop?” Born with HIV, her parents died of HIV, her grandma supports her with her education, nutrition and treatment.

5.       Independence happens at a very early age

Today I watched a boda arrive at school with a small boy (about 9), alone on the back. He climbed down, and paid the driver from a bundle of notes in his pocket. A teacher appeared, the boy pulled out a key, and unlocked the padlock on his bag (think large supermarket re-use carrier). She took toilet rolls, sugar and a few other things from him. He hoicked the bag up on his shoulder and set off up the hill to the boarders’ dormitory. Children do household chores as soon as they are able. Sometimes they are seriously injured in accidents.

6.       Town Schools are better than rural ones

Actually I know this already but we spent this afternoon visiting 6 schools to pay fees and started at the one the furthest distance from town. They gradually got better. At the last primary school, all the children had shoes.

At the first senior school we had a great time chatting to some boys who want to be a doctor, teacher and lawyer. Moses told us this school does not have good results and their dreams are unlikely to be fulfilled.

7.       Yawning is rude

      We started today with a Bible verse ‘Patience is better than pride.’  Here there is a lot of waiting -  waiting for someone to come back from the bank (2 hours for cash), the hotel manager to buy a generator battery, someone to find a headteacher or a school bursar, a meal, a meeting, church to start... This is not easy for us, living rushed western lives. We are learning again to sit and wait patiently. We are not more important than anyone else so we should wait happily. My solution? Leave my watch at the hotel.

What have I learnt?

Restoring DIGNITY is one of the most important benefits of overcoming poverty.

If you're poor at home, you're poor everywhere

Today was about the new term, visiting schools to pay fees, and carry out termly ‘inspections’. It was also the day to accept this is the rainy season. Last night’s thunder rocked our building and rattled the door. Tom and Moses’s trip ‘into the field’ on the bike, was abandoned when the rains started.  I discovered the reality of a rural school in a monsoon.  However, I was told that bringing rain with me was a sign of blessing!

Now for a story.

20 month old twins, *Arthur and *Neville were abandoned by their mother, along with their 3 siblings.  When the GC local team first visited the family, they were horrified to find them living in a one-roomed ramshackle dwelling with a grass thatched roof.  They fetched water from a filthy river at the bottom of the hill, hefting it back up a steep, slippery, slope.

They had no sleeping mats. They each had one set of ragged clothes, no shoes. The father worked digging gardens, but not all the time because he had to look after the children. He didn’t make enough for food every day.  The twins were malnourished and sickly.

The local Global Care team decided to support the family, initially providing milk for the twins, and maize flour and salt for cooking. They were happy to receive soap, previously they washed themselves and their clothes in dirty river water.  They were given clothes.

Today the 3 -year-old twins are both sponsored, and are healthy, although they were terrified of me at first, having never seen a white person.  We picked them up at nursery school, where they have breakfast and lunch too.

It’s a recently opened, basic, village primary and nursery school. The compound was clean, the children seemed happy (as long as I wasn’t talking to them), the teachers friendly, and there was a good atmosphere.  

I took a football and pump as a gift, the Head Teacher bought us bottles of water as a gift. The school sponsors 2 of the twins’ siblings – their father doesn’t pay fees, but has to provide their food.  The other sibling attends a very poor school 2km away, where fees are affordable even for this father.

Their father was welcoming and happy when we visited his clean and tidy compound (I remarked how impressed I was, given my own experience of living with a husband and 3 boys). There is a kitchen, a toilet, and their house is a solid, painted mud building, with a tin roof.  All thanks to support from GC.  He has a small garden for fruit and vegetables to help feed his family.

I love visits like this – success stories of both Global Care, and sponsorship itself. The twins may be barefoot, still using dirty river water, and walk 1km to school, but their father told me Global Care had saved the twins’ lives. This family now has a proper roof, somewhere to cook, education, the father can work …. and his 5 children are all alive.

Back in the car, I felt stunned, imagining life without shoes, electricity, clean water, furniture, regular meals, and everything else I take for granted.  This problem is so big. Throughout the world, people live in abject poverty, no social services or free healthcare, no emergency accommodation. I’m so appreciative of this opportunity to remind myself of the reality of extreme poverty and vulnerability, and of the power of GC sponsorship to change, and save, lives.

Moses said today that the children at this school are all from poor families. They carry the stigma of poverty around with them and would not know how to react to me. He said to us, “If you’re poor at home, you have to be poor everywhere.”

It’s a sobering thought that while I thought I was bringing a bit of fun and excitement, for some children, I actually emphasised their poverty. Tomorrow I’m taking humility and respect (as well as footballs!).